Affordable Tie Downs!

artfd wrote:
"The mounts need to be BOLTED to the frame and you need metal tie downs." Metal ties from an underframe belly bar to the eyebolts on a truck camper -- chain, hooks, eye bolts, turnbuckles, all can be found in hardware stores most anywhere in the USA. http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Brophy/TDHP.htmlThis kind of hardware.
--- Finding a belly bar if an old one fails or if you need to fasten a truck camper to a pickup bed ASAP, that is another matter. There was no easy or straight forward way I knew of at the time to fasten a wooden beam to the bottom frame members of a pickup truck bed. The metal belly bar I got came with specially fashioned strong brackets that worked very much like U-bolts to keep the belly bar in position.
--- After I tightened those turnbuckles between my camper and my wooden belly bar for the week that I used wood, I detected no evidence of movement or sliding. For the first 20 miles or so I stopped repeatedly & re-tightened the turnbuckles to take the slack that did develop, until there was no further slack. I grant I did not exceed 55 mph and only drove on smooth roads.

You also didn't get in an accident. I wouldn't have to tie down my camper at all if there wasn't that possibility.

You guys do what you want. I'm going to use mounts that I know beyond a doubt will pull the eyes out of the camper before they so much as bend. My family deserves that as does every other family on the road with me.

"The mounts need to be BOLTED to the frame and you need metal tie downs." Metal ties from an underframe belly bar to the eyebolts on a truck camper -- chain, hooks, eye bolts, turnbuckles, all can be found in hardware stores most anywhere in the USA. http://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Brophy/TDHP.htmlThis kind of hardware.
--- Finding a belly bar if an old one fails or if you need to fasten a truck camper to a pickup bed ASAP, that is another matter. There was no easy or straight forward way I knew of at the time to fasten a wooden beam to the bottom frame members of a pickup truck bed. The metal belly bar I got came with specially fashioned strong brackets that worked very much like U-bolts to keep the belly bar in position.
--- After I tightened those turnbuckles between my camper and my wooden belly bar for the week that I used wood, I detected no evidence of movement or sliding. For the first 20 miles or so I stopped repeatedly & re-tightened the turnbuckles to take the slack that did develop, until there was no further slack. I grant I did not exceed 55 mph and only drove on smooth roads.

The 4x4 isn't a dumb idea because of its strength. It's more than strong enough. It's a dumb idea because there's no way to rigidly secure it to the truck frame. Mount it with wire or galvanized strapping and that beam will move around every time the suspension flexes, loosening the straps all the while. The mounts need to be BOLTED to the frame and you need metal tie downs. Fabric and rope straps degrade in the sunlight and weaken with dust and grit in the fibers. They also may stretch when wet from rain, loosening as they stretch.

Get the right stuff. Every else on the road deserves for your 3000#+ camper to be secured safely.

"...and a 4x4 beam as a tiedown? No. Heck no. No no no. Holding down some dirt, and holding down a bucking, bouncing, bounding camper are two entirely different things. One of them is a good place for a piece of wood, the other is not. We build houses and barns out of wood because they are not going anywhere. It's bad enough most RVs are framed from wood. We don't need to be securing them to the vehicle with even more wood." The amount of bouncing and bounding that would break a 4x4 beam would more likely shatter the connecting points on the camper or the camper framework itself first. It worked fine for me, particularly as a temporary measure.

I have to shake my head. People will spend thousands of dollars, usually TENS of thousands of dollars, on a truck and camper, but balk at a $250 set of tiedowns.

I'm sorry, but get your priorities straight people! The cost of a set of tiedowns is CHUMP CHANGE compared to what you have invested in the rig. PROTECT YOUR INVESTMENT! To hell with safety and other people because I know you're sick of hearing about it. If you protect your investment, safety will come along for the ride.

...and a 4x4 beam as a tiedown? No. Heck no. No no no. Holding down some dirt, and holding down a bucking, bouncing, bounding camper are two entirely different things. One of them is a good place for a piece of wood, the other is not. We build houses and barns out of wood because they are not going anywhere. It's bad enough most RVs are framed from wood. We don't need to be securing them to the vehicle with even more wood.

Think about it though, we are constantly fighting with our RVs as they fall apart from being hammered down the road. All the leaks and subsequent rot are due to the fact that wood is not a good material to build vehicles out of.

I bought my steel belly bars in 1983 before pricing became extravagant. By 2010 the end of one had rusted off, where a telescoped section slid inside the main square-cross-section tube. Otherwise they outlived my camper.
For a temporary belly bar, what about this:
A 4"x4" treated lumber beam, long enough to stick out on either side (same way that metal bars do). Drill each end for a 3/8" or 1/2" diameter eye bolt, chain this to the bottom eye bolts of your camper.
This has to be at least as strong as the bottom connection of the camper, & I think would stand up for a long time. But I'm not an engineer.
I used this arrangement for a couple of weeks before my order for metal belly bars came through.
This should work very well in emergency situations, as mentioned here: http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f29/Jaxom44/Moab%20EJS%202014/IMG_0913.jpg.
You can buy treated lumber beams most anywhere, cut & drill them with simple hand tools, no welding required.
I have not checked prices on these wood beams lately, wouldn't be surprised if they now cost more than metal ones!
Wire the beam to the frame to secure it when the tension is off, or use galvanized pipe strapping.
I later repurposed the beam when I paved my front drive for the first time -- used it as a threshold into the garage, whose floor was a couple of inches below the driveway grade, an error of the original builder I was trying to correct. The treated beam has been in the ground for 14 years & holding strong.

okan-star wrote:
If your hitch has open ends , you can slide 2" x 2" x1/4" box into it and drill a hole thru the hitch and the box , put a pin in it so its removeable, drill a hole in the top on the outer end and hook the turnbuckle to it .
That's a cheap rear setup

Like this

This is what I did on the back and used torklifts on front and they worked real well. Still have the front forklifts for a '96 GMC to get rid of
Jim

Cymru wrote:
I am looking for a truck camper and tie downs. I have found a few good campers, but tie downs are way overpriced! Does anyone have good ideas on sourcing affordable tie downs? If it makes a difference, the upcoming camper is going onto my 2005, GMC, 2500, diesel, crew. Thanks!

Overpriced? this person must not have any idea of what it costs to design and manufacture anything plus the cost of liability insurance on the products they sell. I had a ladder mfg once tell me that almost half the cost of ladders is liability insurance. This is what happens when so many people start buying products made in other countries that just copy designs pay people a fraction of what this person would work for and don't have to pay anything close to what we have to for safety and environmental standards. Yes even small companies in the USA have to deal with this.

Sorry but this comment just made me mad.

Fastbrit,

Those look nice. My son and I got a Hobart welder for a combined Christmas present. My welds don't look like that...yet!!

Happy jacks are under $180